Star Trek:Odyssey 16:Distant Stars
by rylansato
Summary: The Alexandria and three other fleets are sent to the Mirror Universe to try and stay on the offensive against the Terran Empire. Meanwhile, Commander Merriell tries to figure out what he needs to do when it comes to Counselor Nycz and his unborn child.
1. Seeking Advice

Star Trek: Odyssey: Distant Stars

_Captain's Log: Stardate: 58168.6. The Alexandria is still in orbit above Earth but is getting ready to depart for Deep Space Nine along with the Luna class USS Syracuse. The crew is returning to the ship getting ready for departure. The ship is to rendezvous with the Tenth, Ninth and Eighth Fleets and we're going to go into enemy territory to gain more ground._

Alex Merriell walked down the corridor of the Alexandria. He passed multiple crew members including a Caitian female named M'Ress. M'Ress had golden fur and caramel colored mane with yellow eyes. Her uniform was tailored to accommodate her Caitian physique such as her tail and cat like legs. He nodded to her as they passed.

"Commander Merriell." She said in her almost purr like voice.

M'Ress was a Lieutenant Commander in rank and would replace Hoshi Sato at her station on the bridge if she wasn't there. Alex found it a bit funny that the two officers on the ship who were out of the past were the same rank and position not to mention both from an older Enterprise. Hoshi was from Jonathan Archer's NX-01 Enterprise while M'Ress was from James Kirk's 1701 Enterprise. M'Ress was stuck in a time loop and ended up here in the future about a year or so before the start of the war with the Dominion.

He turned a corner and stopped a pair of doors. The name on the doors said Michelle Trinn.

He pressed the button on the panel to alert Trinn of his presence at her door. Her voice came through the intercom on the panel telling him to come in. He stepped forward as the doors opened. He walked through the threshold and didn't see Michelle immediately but then realized that she was up against the wall doing a hand stand.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"It's a thing that my previous host Adrias did while he dated a girl at the University of Mississippi by the name Emony Dax. She did this thing where she would do a hand stand like this to collect her thoughts. She then left Adrias and went after a doctor by the name of McCoy."

"I see." Alex said nodding.

Trinn got down from her hand stand and stood up right. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I have a bit situation. As you've heard Counselor Nycz is pregnant and as it turns out, I'm the father."

Trinn's eyes widened.

"Only I'm not the father, my mirror counterpart is but I feel that I should take responsibility. Because it would just get too confusing for the child and…I don't even know."

"Come and sit down." Trinn said.

The two friends sat down next to each other on the couch in Trinn's quarters.

"I want to father the child because it is technically mine. I would normally talk to Counselor Nycz about it but because she is involved I can't talk to her. I need an objective point of view."

"Have you talked to the other counselors?"

"No. I came to you because we're so close and I wanted your insight."

"Well, my only advice would be to tell the counselor what you want to do. She does need to know either way. She can't fault you for you not wanting to father the child because it technically isn't yours. Just go and talk to her about it."

Alex nodded. "I'll do that. Thanks for the advice."

"That's what I'm here for." The Trill said.

Alex got up and left her quarters still a bit unsure of what he should do. Then he remembered that he could talk to his brother. His brother David was the captain of the USS Syracuse that they just so happen to be in orbit with. Merriell stepped into the turbolift.

"Transporter room." He called into the air.

The doors shut and the car began moving.

Captain David Merriell sat in his ready room of the USS Syracuse reading over the details of their upcoming mission. He was about four years older than his brother and obtained the rank of captain because his former captain was assimilated by the Borg during the Battle of Sector 001. He was able to fight off the other Borg drones and unfortunately had to kill his captain. Admiral Paris gave him a promotion shortly thereafter. The chime of his door interrupted his reading.

"Come in." He said.

The doors separated and Commander Merriell stepped into the room. Captain Merriell was a bit surprised to see his brother but at the same time he wasn't because they were in orbit with the Alexandria. David stood up, walked around the desk and gave his brother a hug.

"Congratulations on your promotion. Even though it's a bit late." David said.

"Thanks, bro. I mean, sir." Alex said. David waved off the formality. "I was first officer temporarily until Commander Sparhawk came back to active duty. I'm back at Ops now but I still retain the rank."

"So I guess we're heading to Deep Space Nine to meet up with Eighth, Ninth and Tenth fleets before we head into the Mirror Universe." David said.

"Those are our orders." Alex said. He paused for a few moments before saying what he came to say. "I came over to ask about something."

"What is it?"

"Well, Counselor Nycz was abducted and taken to the other side. She was tortured for information and even raped. Well, she's pregnant and the child belongs to my counterpart."

David's eyes widened.

"I feel as if the child is mine even though it isn't. I want to raise the child but I'm kinda scared. I've talked to Lieutenant Trinn about it but I also need a second opinion. She thinks I should just talk to her. What do you think?"

"I think the same thing. You should just sit down and talk with Counselor Nycz. Tell her what you feel and what you want to do. I'm sure she'll be willing to accept your help since it is but isn't your child."

Alex nodded his head, thinking. A few moments had passed before Captain Merriell spoke up.

"It's almost fourteen hundred hours and we are departing soon. You better get back to the Alexandria."

Alex nodded. "Yeah, I should do that. Thanks, Captain Brother." Alex said with a grin.

David smiled at the name. "Hey, Alex." Commander Merriell stopped in the doorway and looked back to his higher ranking brother. "Let's get together and do something after we come back from this mission."

Alex smiled and nodded before leaving his brother's ready room.


	2. Deep Space Nine

Captain Jermaine Allensworth walked through the corridors of his mighty starship. He had a lot on his mind at the moment, ranging from the death of his family to their upcoming assignment into the mirror universe. It wasn't so much that he was nervous but more that he wanted this war to be over and he knew that a lot of people were going to die. Leading the assault fleet was pretty much like a random picking death sentence for some. But that was their job. Starfleet was a peace keeping armada and with the threat of the Terran Empire, they had to try and keep the peace no matter the cost.

Allensworth was a bit surprised that the Empire didn't try and start fights with the Romulans, the Klingons or even the Cardassians. The Cardassians were in no shape to mount a fight against the Empire because of the toll it took during the Dominion War. The war was going back and forth just with the Federation and the Empire. If someone else were to enter the war for either side, it would be troublesome for the opponent.

Jermaine had asked Starfleet higher-ups to ask its allies to help with the war effort but they said it could be used against them if the Empire were to act as its counterpart and then start a conflict between allies. It was a valid reason but Allensworth thought that Starfleet would need any help that it could get.

He was so trained on his thoughts that when he turned the corner he ran right into a young female Lieutenant in the Science division. The brown haired, brown eyed woman came up to the captain's chest.

"Oh, sorry sir. I need to watch where I'm going." The young brown haired woman said.

"No, it's my fault, Lieutenant…"

"Dowler, sir. Lieutenant Elizabeth Dowler. I just transferred a little over a week ago. I'm in the Astral anthropology department."

Allensworth nodded his head. "Welcome aboard, Lieutenant. Carry on."

"Thank you, sir." She said stepping past him and proceeding on her way down the corridor.

Dowler walked off as Allensworth stood there a moment and then he grinned to himself before he walked off heading to the turbolift.

Allensworth walked onto the bridge where all of his officers were at their stations. Commander Sparhawk was on full active duty now and Commander Merriell was at his own station at Ops. Lieutenant Stull was next to him, Counselor Nycz was at her station, left of the Captain's chair. McKenzie was at tactical while Commander Zofchak was at the bridge engineering station with Commander Sato behind him at the communications console.

Allensworth walked across the bridge to his chair as Sparhawk stood up from it, being relieved of having watch over the bridge. Allensworth sat down into his chair.

"Commander Sato, inform the Syracuse that we're heading out."

"Aye, sir."

"Lieutenant Stull, set a course for Deep Space Nine. Maximum warp."

"Aye, sir." She replied as she entered the commands into her navigation console.

The Sovereign class and the Cheyenne class starships left Earth's orbit and headed for Deep Space Nine in the Bajor Sector.

_Captain's Log: Supplemental: We've arrived at Deep Space Nine and are currently preparing the assault fleet to depart from the station and head to the other side to battle the Mirror Universe._

Commander Zofchak and Commander Sato sat in Quark's Bar having a raktajino and relaxing a bit before they depart. The Ferengi bar owner came up with a few raktajino refills.

"How far along are you?" Quark asked.

"Five months." Hoshi replied.

"I can't believe you two are conceding a child in the middle of a war."

"Actually, we're having twins."

"Twins? You couldn't have waited til after the war?"

"You know us humans, Quark. We can't wait to do anything." Dustin said with a slight grin.

Quark just shook his head as he set down the drinks and took the empty glasses. "Well, Morn wishes you well."

Hoshi looked past Quark to see Morn at the bar. Dustin lifted his glass in a gesture of thanks to Morn for the wish.

Lieutenant Trinn stood with Ezri Dax on the upper level walkway that overlooked the promenade.

"It's good to see you again, Dax." Trinn said. "Well, you know what I mean."

Ezri nodded. "I know that it's the Adrias part of the symbiont talking. It can be very confusing."

The Dax and Trinn symbionts had met each other on more than one occasion, more specifically with more than one host.

"Heading over to the other side again?" Dax asked.

"Yeah, we're leading an assault force to help with the forces that are already there. How long do you think that the war will last?"

"Well, the Dominion war started on stardate 50975.2 and ended on stardate 52870.2. That's about two years of war. There were so many casualties of that war on both sides and let's just hope that it doesn't last that long." Ezri said.

"Even if the Terran Empire wins the war, the casualties won't stop." Michelle said.

Ezri nodded, knowing full well, that if the Empire won the war, their way of life for the entire galaxy would be over.

Captain Allensworth sat with Colonel Kira in her office discussing the plan to assist their forces that were already on the other side. He pointed to varioussections of the screen going over the plan of attack.

"While the Eighth fleet takes on the Imperials on the left flank, the three Twain Class ships, the Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and Becky Thatcher swing in underneath the line to strike the middle. The Rhea, Cassini, Hyperion and Alexandria will punch through."

Suddenly, the chime of the intercom interrupted their conversation.

"Colonel, we just got word from our forces in the Mirror Universe." A female voice said.

Allensworth noticed that how Commander Zofchak's naming of the parallel universe has quickly spread throughout the Federation.

"And what is it?" Kira asked.

"The Empire has broken through our lines."

Allensworth and Kira exchanged worried looks. Allensworth knew the time to leave was now. He turned and head for the door. He tapped his communicator badge.

"Allensworth to all personnel of the assault fleets. Return to your ships, we are heading out."


	3. Another Battle in Chin'toka

Hoshi and Dustin were still in Quarks when their captain's voice came through their communicators.

"Allensworth to all personnel of the assault fleets. Return to your ships, we are heading out."

They looked at each other, got up from their chairs and then headed out of the bar. Quark came over to the table to clean up after them. He shook his head as he set the drinks on his tray.

"Always on the move." He said.

Ezri and Michelle were strolling through the Promenade when they heard Allensworth's voice.

"Allensworth to all personnel of the assault fleets. Return to your ships, we are heading out."

Trinn looked at Ezri. "Gotta go." She said before quickening her pace to the transporter room.

Dustin and Hoshi were walking to the transporter room, when Michelle came from another corridor and joined them.

"I thought we still had about an hour or so before we departed." Trinn said.

"War waits for no one." Zofchak said.

Merriell then came from another corridor and joined the small group. "Looks like we gotta go give the Empire another pasting like we did at Archer Four."

The four of them entered the transporter room and stepped up on to the transporter platform. The transporter chief pressed a few commands into his console.

"The Alexandria is prepared for your arrival." He said.

"Energize." Merriell said.

The four dematerialized from Deep Space Nine and rematerialized in the transporter room on the Alexandria. The four stepped from the platform and headed for the bridge.

Shortly after the four of them had walked onto the bridge and sat down at their stations, Captain Allensworth walked from the turbolift. Commander Sparhawk stood up from the center seat.

"Captain, the rest of the assault fleet signals ready for departure."

Allensworth sat down in his chair. "Lieutenant Trinn, set a course for the Chin'toka system, maximum warp."

The Alexandria leapt into warp followed by the assault fleet.

Hours later, an interspatial anomaly opened up and an armada of ships came flying through it. The anomaly closed once every ship was through.

"Sir," Commander Merriell said. "Sensors are picking up the two fleets. Our forces are outnumbered seven to one."

"Well, let's give them something else to fire at. What's our ETA?"

"Three minutes, thirty-two seconds."

"Red alert. Raise shields and arm weapons. All hands battlestations" Allensworth said.

The Federation assault fleet came flying into the battle scene with the Alexandria leading the way.

"Attack pattern: Delta." Allensworth said. "Mckenzie, lock quantum torpedoes."

"Torpedoes locked."

"Fire."

The Alexandria launched two pairs of quantum torpedoes that slammed into an Imperial Galaxy class starship. The torpedoes took out the shields of the Imperial ship. The Alexandria finished off the ship with some phasers striking the warp nacelles and then the bridge. The Galaxy class ship exploded into a ball of fire.

A transphasic torpedo came flying through the debris towards the starboard side of the Alexandria.

"HARD TO PORT!" Allensworth called.

The Alexandria moved to the right, just missing the shield penetrating torpedo. However, the torpedo penetrated the shields of an Excelsior class and slammed into its saucer section, ripping off the forward section of the ship. The ship flew out of control and was out of commission.

"Target the next ship and fire quantum torpedoes." Allensworth said.

Mckenzie entered the commands into her tactical console and executed it. The Sovereign class ship fired four more quantum torpedoes that crashed into a Saber class ship. The Imperial ship moved out of the way of the Alexandria but came into the targeting sights of the USS Thunderchild.

"Let's finish her off." Captain Stork said. "Fire photon torpedoes."

Six orange colored photon torpedoes were launched from the Akira class starship and struck the Saber class ship destroying it.

"Hoshi, send a message to the Twain class ships telling them to start their run, then send a message to the Eighth fleet telling them to begin their attacks. Then tell the Rhea, Cassini and Hyperion that they're with us."

"Aye, sir." She responded.

Allensworth knew that she could handle the onslaught of transmissions she could send and not confuse them by sending the wrong message to the wrong ship. She turned around in her chair to face the captain.

"Sir, the Eighth fleet is starting their attack run and so are the three Twain class ships and the Rhea, Cassini and Hyperion acknowledge, they're standing by."

The Cassini was an Excelsior class starship while both the Rhea and Hyperion were Luna class ships. The new Twain class ships looked like they were a mixture of a Sovereign class and a Galaxy class. The saucer section had the roundness of a Galaxy class but the touchups of a Sovereign. Its warp nacelles lifted above the saucer like a Sovereign but weren't as exposed. They looked like they had battle armor over its nacelles. The underside looked more like a Sovereign but the top of the ship looked like it had a lot of additions to it similar to a HVAC Nebula class. Overall, it looked more like a battleship than an exploring ship.

"Let's do it." Allensworth said.

The ships of the Eighth fleet moved to handle the ships on the left and the Twain class ships swooped under to attack from the bottom while the Alexandria followed by the Cassini, Hyperion and Rhea went through the middle. The rest of the ships were engaged in various other battles with other ships.

Suddenly, phasers and torpedoes of all types came from underneath the allied fleet and slammed into various starships. A phaser beam shot through the saucer section of the Rhea and a torpedo struck the starboard nacelle strut, sending the nacelle spiraling away. Ultimately, the Rhea erupted into a ball of flames.

"Where did that come from?" Allensworth asked.

Merriell didn't have an immediate answer. His fingers danced across the control board trying to find an answer. After a few moments, that seemed like hours, he had one.

"Sir, we've got three hundred seventy-four Imperial starships de-cloaking bearing zero five nine mark zero three one." Merriell said.

"What?"

The de-cloaking ships fired their weapons striking more Federation starships. The Federation forces were severely outnumbered now.

"Lock phasers and return fire." Allensworth ordered.


	4. From Bad to Worse

The Federation forces fired their weapons at the incoming Imperial starships, in hopes that they could turn the tide back into their favor but it was useless.

"Sir, all of the incoming Imperial starships are Prometheus class starships." Merriell said.

"Great, that's just what we need." Allensworth said.

"They're breaking off into their multi-vector attack mode." Merriell said.

Each Prometheus class ship broke off into three separate sections, each section had full weapons capabilities. It gave the Empire even more numbers against the Federation.

"Fire quantum torpedoes, dispersal pattern: Sierra." Allensworth said.

The Alexandria fired three quantum torpedoes that all separated into three different torpedoes. Each set of three slammed into one of the multi-vector sections of one of the ships. Each set erupted into fiery debris.

A Miranda class starship blew apart and its debris slammed into the shields of the Alexandria.

The starship shook as it was bombarded with weapons. As Allensworth was tossed around the deck, he knew the outcome of this battle it was either retreat or all of the ships were going to be destroyed.

"Commander Sato, tell all ships we're retreating."

The order caught Hoshi off guard and she hesitated. "Aye, sir."

Suddenly, the navigation console exploded in Lieutenant Trinn's face, sending her to the deck. Commander Zofchak had headed down to Main Engineering to handle things down there and to give his engineers a hand.

"Christine, take the helm. Get us out of here." Allensworth said.

Captain Stork stood at the tactical station on the bridge. His tactical officer laid dead at his feet with scorch marks all over his face. He continued to fire phasers and torpedoes at the ships when his ship got a message.

"Sir, we're getting a message from the Alexandria. Their captain is ordering us to retreat."

"Acknowledged." Stork said. "Set a course for the rendezvous point."

"Aye, sir."

The Federation assault fleet began their retreat. They opened an anomaly so they could return to their universe. They all leapt into warp through the anomaly and some of the Imperial ships followed.

"Sir, they're following us." Merriell said.

Now Allensworth was really annoyed.

"Come about, fire all weapons. We've gotta hold them off so the fleet can get away."

The Alexandria dropped out warp and spun around. It fired all weapons at the oncoming Imperial ships. It was a valiant effort on the Alexandria's part but it was still outnumbered. Allensworth be damned if he didn't take out a few ships with him.

"Now let us get out of here. Fire anti-matter spread."

Sparks erupted from dorsal and ventral phaser arrays. It allowed the Alexandria to turn tail and take off. A Prometheus class ship fired its phasers, striking the starboard side of the Alexandria, sending it flying wildly through space. Everyone on the bridge was thrown from their stations.

"Get us out of here." Allensworth demanded from his grounded position.

After wiping the blood from his face, Merriell looked over and saw that Nycz was unconscious on the floor. There was no one at the helm and he was the closest. He struggled to his feet to get to the helm. After battling the rocking forces that seemed like they were trying their damnedest to keep him on the deck, he finally was able to get in the navigation seat and plotted a course away from the Imperials.

The Alexandria spun wildly every which way and its nacelles flashed brightly sending it into warp in what seemed like a random direction.

They weren't in warp for any more than twenty minutes when they dropped out of warp.

"Zofchak, why are we dropping out of warp?"

"I'm not sure, sir. Something is preventing us from maintaining a stable warp field." Zofchak replied through the intercom.

"Are the Imperials still in pursuit?" Allensworth asked.

"Negative, sir."

"Plumley to Bridge. We've got a power overload in sickbay." She said.

Merriell had returned to Ops while Lieutenant Commander Freed had taken over at the helm while both Nycz and Trinn were taken to sickbay. He pressed a few buttons on his console.

"The overload is spreading. Half that deck is going to blow in less than three minutes."

"Doctor, get your people out of there." Sparhawk said. "Emergency evacuation, deck eight."

Doctor Plumley helped her patients down the corridor. Some were able to walk under their own power but others had to have help. Counselor Nycz helped the semi conscious Lieutentant Trinn as Doctor Plumley and Lieutenant Dowler helped Ensign Carbone to the Jefferies tube.

"Thirty seconds til structural collapse." The computer said.

Lieutenant Khean opened the door to the Jefferies tube and helped others get in. Finally, Plumley got in and readied herself to pull Carbone through the crawlway.

"Fifteen seconds."

She pulled her down the crawlspace so Dowler could get in.

"Ten seconds."

Dowler got in and was ready to pull the door shut when she saw a set of doors open and two crewmembers came out. She recognized them as Lieutenant Commander Lauren Skundrich and Lieutenant Andrew Coble. They ran for the Jefferies tube.

"Five. Four."

Dowler knew she could wait no longer. She felt bad for giving these two crewmembers hope that they could get to safety and then end up stopping them in their tracks. It was either those two or those two and the ones in the Jefferies tube.

"Three. Two."

Dowler shut the door when Coble and Skundrich were only meters away. The deck exploded exposing it to the vastness of space. The entire ship rocked, sending everyone on the bridge to the deck once again.

"Report." Allensworth said.

Merriell got back to his station. "Sections ten through forty-seven of deck eight are gone."

Zofchak was running around in Engineering trying to keep things from falling apart.

"Get a stabilizer on that conduit." He said. "Zofchak to Bridge, anti-matter containment fields are failing. If I can't stabilize them I'll have to dump the core or she'll blow."

Zofchak walked over to a panel on the wall. He opened the panel and looked at it with worried eyes. He shut the door, stepped away and tapped his comm. badge. "Zofchak to Bridge, I've got a problem. The magnetic interlocks have fused and…"

He was cut off by the door being blown open and a barrage of sparks erupting from it. He spun around and looked up at the warp core. A low rumble turned into a loud sonorous roar.

"Coolant leak. Bridge, we have a coolant leak in the engine core, I can't shut it down. I estimate four minutes til a warp core breach."

There was another explosion of sparks.

"Come on, everyone out. We have a coolant leak." Zofchak said.

Smoke began to fill engineering and people ran. Zofchak ran deeper into engineering making sure engineering was evacuated.

"Hoshi," Allensworth said. "evacuate everyone to the saucer section." Allensworth said. "Mister Merriell, prepare to separate the ship."

Merriell nodded and entered the commands into his console.

Crewmembers everywhere scrambled to get to the saucer section of the ship. Doctor Plumley had set up a make shift sickbay in ten forward. Her and her medical staff ran around the room getting people secure for the ship's separation.

"Warp core is accelerating, Dustin. We've got to get out of here." Allensworth said through the intercom.

Dustin had just come through the Jefferies tube and shut the door behind him. He was the last to make it to the saucer section.

"We're all out, bridge."

"Begin saucer separation sequence. Then ahead full impulse once we're clear." Allensworth said.

"Warp core going critical."

The ship began its separation sequence. Seconds later, the ship was clear from the star drive section.

"Engaging impulse engines." Freed said.

"Warp core breach in progress." Merriell reported.

The star drive section exploded sending out a shockwave. The shockwave struck the saucer section sending it out of control and everyone, who was standing, to the deck. The saucer section spiraled out of control. Zofchak came out stumbling out of the turbolift and did his best to stay on his feet while he headed to Hoshi's position. He grabbed her and held her tight so that she wouldn't fall and injure herself or the twins.

"Report!" Allensworth ordered.

"Inertial dampeners are offline. Attempting to compensate." Merriell said.

What was only a few seconds, that seemed like an eternity, the crew had regained control of what was left of their mighty starship. Dustin helped Hoshi into her chair, before heading over to his station which was like a meter away.

"Helm, set a course for Deep Space Nine. Best possible speed."

A set of beeping filled the bridge.

"Sir," Merriell said. "Sensors are detecting a squadron of Imperial starships headed our way."

"Damn." Allensworth muttered to himself.


	5. More Battling

Lieutenant Trinn had made it back to her quarters. Doctor Plumley had treated the burns on the side of her face from the navigation console exploding earlier. She decided to pet her Tribble while she was relaxing. Plumley wouldn't let her return to duty just yet. The ship had separated and she suspected was on its way back to Deep Space Nine. She saw orange light from out of the corner of her eye and about a microsecond later, the ship rocked violently. She was practically thrown to the deck. She cradled the Tribble to protect it. She then looked out her window and saw an Imperial starship out there firing its weapons. She could tell that the Imperial ship was an Intrepid class starship. The Alexandria's phaser array was near her window, so she could hear the whine of it powering up and the sound of it discharging just before being able to see the beam lash out at the enemy ship.

The Bridge was in shambles as it took on six Imperial starships. It's maneuverability was very limited now that it was only the saucer section. It could only fire all of it's weapons but only from certain areas. It had full phaser capacity and some quantum torpedoes, since the quantum torpedo launcher was just above the captain's yacht. They did have some photon torpedoes but they only had the aft launcher that was located near the main shuttle bay.

What was left of the Alexandria was taking a heavy pounding.

"Sir, shields down to eight percent, they will not….." Merriell was cut off by another jolt. "Shields have failed."

More beeping filled the room. Allensworth dreaded what the reason was this time.

"Sir, we have three more starships coming in." Merriell said.

"Imperial?" Allensworth asked.

"Negative. They're ours. It's Defiant, Voyager and Thunderchild."

Allensworth felt some pressure off of his chest but his ship was still being targeted and their shields were down.

The three Federation starships came warping onto the battle scene taking on the six imperial ships.

"All right, let's give them something else to target." Stork said from his center seat. "Let's try and keep their minds off the Alexandria."

The Akira class starship fired phasers and photon torpedoes at the Imperial ships.

"Sir, one of the ships is flanking us trying to draw us away from the Alexandria." His tactical officer said.

"Mister Stebelton, try and keep us within two hundred kilometers from the Alexandria." Stork said. "Come about to two one five mark three three zero."

"Coming about to two one five mark three three zero, increasing to two thirds impulse."

"Photon torpedoes ready." His tactical officer said.

"Dispersal pattern: Delta nine four. And fire."

The Akira class fired two torpedoes that both separated into two separate torpedoes. Two struck an Imperial Intrepid class while the other two veered right and slammed into an Imperial Steamrunner class.

The crew aboard the Alexandria were struggling to get their shields back up.

"How the shields coming, Dustin?" Sparhawk asked.

"Not good. I'm still working on it though."

Suddenly seven columns of light appeared. Intruders were beaming onto the bridge. As soon as the materialization columns appeared, the intruder alarm went off.

As soon as they materialized they opened fire. A person at the after science station was struck in the back by a phaser beam while everyone else took cover. A phaser fight opened up on the main bridge.

No one could man their stations because of the constant phaser beams that were flying across the bridge. The ship was struck with more phasers and torpedoes, sending everyone flying. Dustin landed near the ops station as did a blonde haired woman wearing the yellow division with lieutenant commander pips. He looked at the woman, noticing her revealing outfit. He realized that his woman was not one from his universe because of the uniform. Once he got his bearings straight and his eyes widened.

"Avery."

Her lips turned into a malevolent smile. "Hello, brother." She said before kicking him in the face. The sight of his sister caught him off guard. She may be dead in his universe but it was still a sight to see the mirror version of her, even if she was the inverted version of his own. His Avery was kind hearted and every one loved her. This one was evil and vicious. She aimed her phaser at him. She was about to press the firing stud when the ship rocked again and she dropped her weapon and it rolled out of reach.

It didn't matter to her because she had a knife that stuck out of the top of her knee high boots. Dustin lunged at her as soon as she pulled the knife out. The two wrestled around on the deck trying to get the upper hand over the other, with the knife between their stomachs. Then Avery let out a yell as the knife perforated her abdomen. Zofchak had won the battle and was able to turn the knife on his attacker. Unfortunately for him, the attacker was his sister, even though she was the mirror version of her.

She slumped onto him and he just let her lay there as he was on the verge of screaming. He had just killed his sister. By then the phaser fight had stopped and Hoshi came over to him. She pulled the Avery's body off of him and knelt down and hugged him tightly.

The rest of the bridge crew stood in silence. They knew that the death of a sibling was a rough thing to go through regardless of which universe they're from.

The silence was short lived as the ship rocked again. Merriell leapt into his seat at ops.

"Weapons are offline." Merriell said.

Freed pressed a few buttons on her console. "Navigation controls are frozen."

"We have hull breaches on decks three, four, five and six." Mckenzie said from her station.

The lights on the bridge began flickering. Some instantly flickered out of existence.

"Zofchak?"

Dustin entered commands into his engineering console. "EPS conduits are fused. Without any power going to the emergency forcefields, we can't seal the breaches.

Allensworth knew he had to give the order that he never wanted to give but as the words left his cracked and bloodied lips, the life of the Alexandria was at an end.

"Abandon ship." He then pressed a button on the arm of his chair. "All hands, abandon ship. Everyone get to the escape pods."

It seemed like everyone was frozen and didn't know what to do. Allensworth understood their thinking but they all needed to go. "That's an order."

Everyone got up from their posts and left the bridge. Allensworth was the last to leave. He stood in the turbolift doorway and looked back at the destroyed bridge of the mighty starship.

_Good-bye._


	6. Returning to Deep Space Nine

Like flower petals in the wind, the escape pods were jettisoned from the saucer section of the Alexandria. It seemed that the Alexandria waited for all of the escape pods to get away before succumbing to her wounds and exploding. Allensworth watched from a window of the escape pod and watched his first command go up in flames. Once the flames had subsided, he put his head down thinking himself as a failure. How could he let his first command be destroyed like this? He swore that he would put an end to this war if he got another command.

He would destroy the empire that had for no reason caused so much destruction and sorrow for his universe. The he stopped. He realized that he was becoming his counterpart and he could allow that. He had to stay true to himself and not become like them. He took deep breaths and cleared his mind. He kept it clear all the way to Deep Space Nine.

There was nothing left of the Imperial squadron and the Thunderchild, Defiant and Voyager were still there and began pulling in the escape pods. Once all of the escape pods were retrieved, the three starships leapt into warp and headed for Deep Space Nine.

Doctor Plumley and Doctor Bashir along with his medical staff checked over the crew of the late Alexandria making sure none of them had any serious injuries.

The next patients to come into the room was Dustin Zofchak and Hoshi Sato.

"Could you do a quick scan over Hoshi and the twins?" Dustin asked.

"Sure thing, Commander." Plumley said.

She pulled out a tricorder and went over Hoshi for a few seconds. "Everything checks out fine with her, now onto Kyou and Ryou." She said pressing a few buttons on her tricorder and held it at Hoshi's abdomen. She held it there for a few seconds before pulling it away to look at the readings.

"Your twins are perfectly healthy." She said.

The doctor saw a look of relief fall across the soon to be parents' faces.

Suddenly, the intercom kicked on. It was Captain Allensworth voice.

"Doctor Plumley, please report to Colonel Kira's office."

She tapped her comm. badge. "On my way."

"Gotta go." She turned to Bashir. "Can you handle the workload?"

"Of course. Go do what you need to do."

She smiled at him before walking out of the infirmary.

The rest of the senior staff sat in the wardroom. They were all a bit demoralized by their latest defeat at the hands of the Terran Empire. They all looked like they lost a family member. To a degree they did; their ship that has served as their home for the past year and a half.

Alex noticed that Lieutenant Trinn had her caged Tribble sitting next to her.

"How did you get your Tribble off the ship?" Merriell asked.

"I was in my quarters when the abandon ship order came through. I couldn't let it just sit there and die."

Alex nodded at the response. "I did kinda worry about your Tribble when we were in the escape pods but I was relieved when I saw you with it."

Silence fell across the senior staff.

"So, now what happens to us?" Mckenzie asked.

"They'll either reassign us or give us another ship." Jason said. "Since there are no available Sovereign class ships then they'll probably reassign us until a ship becomes available."

"I don't like this losing business." Mckenzie said. "I don't like engaging then retreating. We engage them then retreat. It's like we don't have a chance."

"Lieutenant that's enough." Sparhawk said.

"Sorry, sir.

"We do have a chance." Sparhawk said. "Once we get a new ship, we will take the fighting to them and we will shove this war right down their damned throats. We will bring down their empire once and for all."

Admiral Nicholena Tracy had arrived at Deep Space Nine and now stood in Colonel Kira's office with Kira and Captain Allensworth.

"We'll get you another ship and I'll make sure it's a Sovereign class. We have a few in the final stages of construction at the moment."

Allensworth nodded, hoping it would be soon.

"However," the admiral continued. "We need to end this war with the Terran Empire and soon. Our forces can't take another loss like we had at Chin'toka."

Allensworth had dealt with losses before such as the one at Betazed, but this one struck him differently than Betazed, because he lost his ship, his first command. He knew that captain's lost their ships, it happens. He had to fight back a grin at the thought of all great captains lose a starship or two. Captain Kirk destroyed the Enterprise at the Genesis planet to keep the Klingons from getting their hands on it. Captain Picard lost the Stargazer at Maxia and the Enterprise-D at Veridian III, and Captain Sisko lost the Defiant at, ironically enough, the second battle of Chin'toka during the Dominion War. Although Captain Janeway, now Admiral Janeway, didn't lose Voyager in the Delta Quadrant, if she had Allensworth would not be standing here today.

"Until we get you another ship, most of your crew will be reassigned. And then when the new ship comes along, they'll be assigned to it so the re-assignments are not going to be permanent."

Allensworth nodded.

"There are a few who will remain here on Deep Space Nine such as yourself, and your senior staff and a few others." Tracy added.

"I'll have quarters set up for those of you who remain on the station." Kira said.

At that moment, Doctor Plumley walked into the room at the captain's request.

"Did you need to be looked over, sir? If you did, you could've come down to the infirmary and jump ahead of the line. You didn't have to call me up to the office." Plumley said with a slight smirk.

"Please sit down, Doctor." Allensworth said.

"What is it?" She asked, her facial expression becoming more serious.

Allensworth looked at Kira and then the admiral before directing his attention before continuing.

"The battle in the Chin'toka system was only a diversion while their other forces attacked elsewhere."

Amanda's eyes began to widen and a tear began to form at the bottom of her eye. Images of her family entered her mind as a tear escaped her control. She knew damn well that this is why the captain called her here. "Don't tell me."

Allensworth knew that Plumley assumed the worst and he nodded. And he told her.

"The Empire attacked Cestus Three."

The End.


End file.
